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Despite the fact that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have the largest Pokedex since Gen 5, with a whopping total of 103 critters in the base game, a good chunk of them are new designs based on existing pocket monsters from previous generations. An example comes from Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Paradox Pokemon, which take a total of fourteen slots of the Paldean Pokedex with designs with ancient or futuristic themes for returning critters. Another strange gimmick for Gen 9 games was leaked months ago, and while there is no official name for it, the community commonly refers to it as "regional fakes" or "convergent species."
There are not a lot of these Pokemon in Gen 9, however, and they only take up to four spaces in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Pokedex, with them being two different evolution lines based on Gen 1 critters. The first line is something players may already be familiar with from the October trailers, back when Wiglett was revealed for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, leaving fans puzzled as to why it wasn't simply a regional form of Diglett, which would have made sense. The second evolution line is that of Toedscool, a mushroom-like Pokemon based on Tentacool from Kanto, which unlike Wiglett leaves even less room for a new gimmick because it's basically a differently-colored Tentacool.
Why Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Toedscool Should Have Been a Regional Form
The main thing Toedscool has going for itself is that it doesn't float in the water like its Kantonian counterpart, but it actually stands on two tentacle-like legs that are exactly the same as the base form's, with the difference that this Pokemon stands upright and even runs around. While seeing Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Toedscool running around can be quite hilarious, it doesn't mean that it makes sense for Game Freak to make a new critter that's actually a reskin of an old one.
Fans could argue that critters like Alolan Vulpix and Hisuian Samurott don't look too different from their base forms as well, and even though that's correct, they still have some different characteristics, such as curly hair for the former and different blades for the latter. In the case of Toedscool, the differences are in the way it walks and runs compared to Tentacool swimming and its color palette, which sports earthy tones to match its Grass and Ground dual type. Speaking of the type, while Pokemon Scarlet and Violet include more interesting type combos, Grass and Ground are the opposite types for Tentacool's Water and Poison, further expanding on this convergent species theory.
Much like the main difference between Toedscool and Tentacool is the fact that the former walks and has different colors on its body, its evolution behaves quite similarly. Toedscruel is once again land Tentacruel, in the sense that it walks around on its tentacles that are now more akin to roots, and it has darker tones to match its Grass and Ground-type. However, in this case, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet do feature a significant change in terms of appearance by removing Tentacruel's beak-like appendages on its head, replacing them with a siphon of sorts.
This is probably meant to represent the way Toedscruel uses moves like Giga Drain on its targets, and it's enough of a change to make it stand out compared to its pre-evolution. Still, the point stands about how these Pokemon are more like reskins of existing critters than entirely new pocket monsters, with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Pokedex insists on stating, whereas calling them regional forms would have been the more sensible solution. Overall, while Toedscool and Toedscruel are not bad in the game, they do pose questions about what it means to introduce new Pokemon that are not exactly that.
PokemonScarlet and Violet are available now on Nintendo Switch.
